Most contemporary computer operating systems have a graphical user interface ("GUI"). A GUI represents computer elements as a number of overlapping windows and icons displayed over a background ("the desktop"). Users of the operating systems perform actions on the desktop by using a mouse or other pointing device to move a cursor over a desired region and then clicking a button.
As computers and operating systems grow more powerful, so has the size and resolution of the computer screen on which the desktop is displayed. A larger screen allows a greater amount of information to be simultaneously displayed to the user. However, an unintended side effect of the larger screen is that it becomes difficult for the user to quickly locate the cursor. This difficulty is especially true after the user looks away from the screen or focuses attention on another part of the desktop, such as the text field of a word processing program.
There have been several prior art attempts to make the cursor easier to locate. For example, one solution was to make the cursor larger. This solution, however, made it more difficult for the user to precisely position the cursor. L. M. Cahill et al., IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 36, No. 08, Aug. 1993, p. 307, disclosed a solution which automatically moved the cursor to a certain region whenever user input was required. This solution, however, was only effective if the computer program prompted for user input; the user still had to locate the cursor in order to perform other operations.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a system which lets a computer user quickly locate the cursor which does not have the above limitations.